Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 460 Giving up! Giving up!
Boston, in a cramped meeting room at SWM Garden.

General Manager Danny Ainge, along with his henchman Mike Zaren, and head coach Rudy Tomjanovich's coaching staff were all present.

This season, the Celtics have changed coaches again.

After much deliberation, Angie finally decided to choose Tomjanovich.

In 03, Tomjanovich resigned as head coach of the Rockets due to bladder cancer and remained unemployed until last summer.

But he's only 57 years old, still quite young.

Angie chose him from several candidates for several reasons.

This is a champion coach.

Secondly, he has always had a very good reputation in the industry.

Putting aside his coaching ability, Hakeem Olajuwon's role was clearly more significant in the Rockets' two championship wins.

But he has a gentle personality and is very tolerant of the players.

Angie saw this as an opportunity.

He fantasized about getting Durant back.

If Durant is the next Jordan, then Ainge knows Jordan's personality very well.

In some teams, the head coach is the primary decision-maker.

Some teams, however, are primarily players.

If you have the opportunity to have a player of Jordan's caliber, you must make that player the core of your team.

Therefore, the head coach cannot be too domineering and must, to some extent, appease the players.

You also need to have enough prestige to earn the respect of the players.

In addition, he has won championships and has championship experience. Considering all these factors, Tomjanovich is clearly a good fit.

Under the enthusiastic invitation, Tomjanovich finally got his wish and moved into the North Shore Gardens.

On the blackboard in the meeting room, there was a date chart for April.

The grid is marked with all of the Celtics' remaining opponents in April.

"Needless to say, we're going to lose the game against the Knicks on the 9th." Tomjanovich crossed out one of the boxes.

The Celtics have successfully rebuilt and even got Bynum as the number one draft pick.

The top scorer trained by Tang Sen is truly exceptional.

Since his rookie season, Bynum has won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award every single month.

He averages 27.2 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game.

He also set a single-game scoring record of 47 points during the season.

Despite facing Yao Ming and a slimmed-down Shaquille O'Neal, Bynum was still somewhat unable to cope.

Just yesterday, March 29th, the Celtics played the Knicks and suffered a crushing defeat.

Bynum was heavily suppressed and only scored 18 points.

Tomjanovich continued, "We have to lose the game against the Bulls the day after tomorrow."

He circled April 1st on the blackboard, the game against the Bulls.

Angie nodded in deep agreement.

Among the teams that are tanking this year, Klaus, that fat guy, is very eager.

At the beginning of the season, Krause announced to the world with great confidence that the Bulls had completed their rebuild.

It's said that the Bulls have a bunch of promising rookies and also acquired Gerald from the Knicks, making their starting lineup incredibly promising.

He proudly declared that the glory of the Bulls dynasty was about to reappear in Chicago.

As a result, at the start of the season, they suffered an eight-game losing streak.

Several of their losses were by single digits.

If there's no problem, then that would be truly unbelievable.

Anyone with eyes can see that Krause keeps saying the rebuild is complete, but he's already tanking again to try and get the number one draft pick.

The purpose is obvious: they're after Durant.

This is a bull.

Jordan led the Bulls to their peak.

If Tang Sen wants to cultivate the next Jordan-level player, then the great Bulls dynasty's revival naturally cannot be without such a key player.

So even though Krause repeatedly denied tanking, saying it was just a problem with the roster's chemistry, everyone was still certain that the Bulls were tanking.

Unfortunately, Chicago fans still support Krause.

Anyway, the Bulls have been rotten for so many years, we're used to it, what difference does one more season make?
If they get another number one draft pick, and Durant arrives in Chicago, the next Bulls dynasty will be just around the corner.

When Angie received this news, his first reaction was anger.

Damn it, I haven't even started tanking yet. I was thinking that since the season has just begun, I should keep a low profile.

You're shameless, you just start posing like that.

At Ainge's behest, the Celtics decisively continued their preseason plan: tanking while simultaneously padding Bynum's stats. This is how Bynum averaged 27 points per game, securing his place in the top ten of the scoring list.

And Angie wasn't the only one with the same idea.

Seeing that the Bulls had no shame, what did the weaker teams aiming for the number one draft pick have to worry about? Losing was the end of it.

That's Durant, the next Jordan handpicked by Townsend.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; only a fool wouldn't seize it.

The last time a group of weak teams in the league collectively tanked was during Duncan's draft.

This year, the situation of tanking has become even more outrageous.

Because it's not just the weak teams.

Weak teams feel no psychological pressure when they tank.

However, some playoff-caliber teams that lack championship-winning potential are also showing signs of tanking.

For example, the Wizards.

They made it to the playoffs last year, and also have a number of good players like Stoudemire.

After winning several games in a row and climbing to third place in the Eastern Conference, they immediately began a losing streak.

Their general manager, Ernie Grunfeld, must be thinking: Hill is getting old, they have Stoudemire in the paint, which is enough, but they lack players on the perimeter.

Durant is a Washingtonian. Doesn't he want to go back to his hometown to play and become a local hero?
The Wizards have a natural advantage in recruiting Durant.

Moreover, given the Wizards' current strength, winning the championship is out of the question. Only when the Knicks completely disintegrate will these Eastern Conference teams have any hope of winning the title.

Just aiming for the playoffs is something you can do any year. Why miss out on a Jordan-level talent just for a playoff spot?

We have to give up, we absolutely have to give up.

Teams like the Heat, Cavaliers, and Timberwolves in the West have all joined the tanking movement.

If it's just a few teams tanking, then it doesn't matter, it won't have a big impact.

However, according to media speculation, at least half of the teams in the league are tanking, which has a huge impact.

This can lead to a situation where you want to lose, but you can't.

When two teams that both want to lose collide, what do they do? They compete to see who is worse.

Winning is hard, but anyone can lose.

That would make the game incredibly ugly.

A bad game directly impacts attendance and viewership.

Weak teams already get little attention, and now that fans know you're tanking, who's going to buy tickets to watch the game?

We're going to lose anyway.

The vast majority of spectators are not football fans; they simply buy tickets to enter the stadium for entertainment.

Then you watch a terrible game where the players seem intent on losing, how awful is that?

In the two months leading up to their departure from the league, teams went to great lengths to lose.

It's normal for key players on a team to get injured one after another.

Once on the court, he would take all sorts of wild shots.

They even came up with a strategy of playing slack.

For example, play a little more seriously in the first three quarters to confuse the opponent, and then suddenly break down the offensive in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter.

There was a game on December 16th last year, where the Warriors played against the Raptors.

The Warriors managed to set a record in the fourth quarter.

Before the start of the fourth quarter, the Warriors led by 7 points.

In the fourth quarter, the Warriors put on a disastrous performance.

They only managed 2 points in the entire fourth quarter.

He set a new NBA record for the lowest single-quarter score.

He missed shots, made numerous passing errors, and even missed two free throws.

The only two points came from Jamison stealing the ball, charging ahead, and scoring an easy layup.

In that situation, it's simply unacceptable to miss an open layup.

The Raptors fell victim to the trap and unfortunately won the game.

After this game, the league began to express its dissatisfaction, and Stern stepped forward to subtly criticize this behavior.

He thought that if he gave a reminder, the teams would be more restrained.

Who knew it was completely useless?

Things will remain the same as before.

Stern couldn't sit still any longer. He publicly criticized several teams and fined them for passive play.

The fine wasn't much, but Stern's tough stance was what truly curbed this trend of abandoning the team.

(End of this chapter)